If you visit the Waldorf Astoria in Park City, Utah, in the next few weeks, take a close look at the valet. You may recognize him as Patrick Meek, an American speed skater newly returned from Sochi, where he competed in his first Olympic races.

Training for the Olympics is a full-time job. But for most Olympic competitors, that job doesn’t pay very well, if at all, meaning the athletes need to find some income to supplement the occasional sponsorship and pay for the many expenses that aren’t covered by their teams.

That’s why the U.S. Olympic Committee runs an Athlete Career Program, in concert with staffing firm Adecco SA, which helps connect team members with companies willing to take the idea of work flexibility to new heights. Meek, who placed 11th in the 10,000 meter race earlier this week, found his job through the program a few years ago and works anywhere from 10 to 40 hours per week when he’s home in Park City.

The U.S. National Speed Skating Team, of which Meek is a member, has “some sponsorships,” he said by phone from the Team USA house in Sochi, “but I still have to pay rent and make my car payments. I can’t write an IOU every month to my landlord.”

The income from the job – he declined to say how much he earns per hour – also helps him pay for his skates, which can cost as much as $3,500 per pair.

Elite athletes like Meek are “extremely driven, passionate, dedicated, and hard-working,” and so they make great employees, said Rachelle Chapman, senior manager of specialty recruitment programs at Adecco.

Other participating athletes include speed skater Maria Lamb, who moonlights as a barista at the Hilton Salt Lake, and Paralympic cyclist Allison Jones, a remote recruiter for Adecco.

But selling employers on the program is tough given the unique needs of the participants, who travel for weeks or months at a time and have wildly varying schedules to accommodate their intense training regimens. According to his website, Meek trains for six to eight hours a day, six days a week, lifting weights, doing endurance bike rides and, of course, skating laps.

There were 291 athletes in the USOC career program—which serves both Olympians and Paralympians—in 2013, according to Chapman. The company connects the athletes with career coaches and also recruits employers who have flexible, part-time jobs that need to be filled. Thirty-four companies, including Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (which owns the Park City hotel where Meek works) and General Electric Co., participate.

“One question we get every time we talk to new employers about the program is, ‘why do athletes need to work?’” said Chapman. “People think of household names like Lindsey Vonn and Michael Phelps that have big endorsement deals, but that’s not the majority.”

For Meek, age 28, the next six weeks or so will find him working full-time at the Waldorf Astoria while recovering from the relentless training and competition of the last few months. At the hotel, he’ll be parking cars as a valet, cleaning out storage rooms and completing other short-term projects his managers save up for when he’s available. After that, he’ll start ramping up the training again.

And the University of Utah graduate will also be thinking about his next steps, which might include law school or an M.B.A. program.

“I honestly don’t know how many years I can compete at this level,” he said. “You’re kind of at the mercy of the fates. You may think you have a plan for your career, but you’re often surprised.”

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Written and edited by The Wall Street Journal’s Management & Careers group, At Work covers life on the job, from getting ahead to managing staff to finding passion and purpose in the office. Tips, questions? email us.